'''Spanish''' (''español''), also known as Castilian (''castellano''), is the third most-spoken language (around 500 million speakers) in the world. Originating in [[Spain]] and spoken by most residents there, it has slightly different pronunciations from the rest of the world's Spanish speakers, as well as a few vocabulary differences.

'''Spanish''' (''español''), also known as Castilian (''castellano''), is the third most-spoken language (around 500 million speakers) in the world. Originating in [[Spain]] and spoken by most residents there, it has slightly different pronunciations from the rest of the world's Spanish speakers, as well as a few vocabulary differences.

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It is also spoken in [[Mexico]] and all of [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America] except [[Belize]], [[Brazil]], [[Guyana]], [[French Guiana]] and [[Suriname]]. In the [[Caribbean]], Spanish is also spoken in [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Dominican Republic]]. Although the [[Philippines]], around 3 million speakers and increasing and [[Guam]], where Chamorro, a Spanish-based creole, are former Spanish colonies, . See the [[Filipino phrasebook]] and [[Chamorro phrasebook|Chamorro (Guam, etc.) phrasebook]]. Spanish is a first language for many people in the [[United States]], especially in [[California]], [[Texas]], [[South Florida]], and elsewhere the [[Southwest (United States of America)|Southwest]]. There are around 50 million Spanish speakers in the U.S. and by 2030 there are expected to be 100 million in the U.S. alone!

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It is also the official language in [[Mexico]] and all of [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]] (except [[Belize]], [[Brazil]], [[Guyana]], [[French Guiana]], [[Suriname]] and the [[Falkland Islands]]). In the [[Caribbean]], Spanish is also spoken in [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Dominican Republic]]. Spanish is also a first language for many people in the [[United States]], especially in [[California]], [[Texas]], [[South Florida]], and elsewhere in the [[Southwest (United States of America)|Southwest]]. There are around 50 million Spanish speakers (including native and second language speakers) in the U.S., making it the second largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world after Mexico. Additionally, Spanish is an official language in the African country of [[Equatorial Guinea]].

A Western Romance language, Spanish is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the other romance languages to an extent, such as [[Portuguese]], [[Catalan]], [[Italian]] and [[Romanian]]. English and Spanish share variants of approximately one third of their words (via Latin), although the pronunciation tends to be very different.

A Western Romance language, Spanish is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the other romance languages to an extent, such as [[Portuguese]], [[Catalan]], [[Italian]] and [[Romanian]]. English and Spanish share variants of approximately one third of their words (via Latin), although the pronunciation tends to be very different.

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; b : like 'b' in "bed" (but no aspiration) at the beginning of a word and after 'm': ''boca''. A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere. See '''v''' below.

; b : like 'b' in "bed" (but no aspiration) at the beginning of a word and after 'm': ''boca''. A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere. See '''v''' below.

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; c : follows the same pronunciation pattern as in English. In most cases it is pronounced like 'k' in "kid": ''calle, doctor''. When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (Latin America) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): ''cine'' (''THEE-nay'')

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; c : follows the same pronunciation pattern as in English. In most cases it is pronounced like 'k' in "kid": ''calle, doctor''. When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (in the Americas, the Canaries and some parts of the Philippines) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): ''cine'' (''THEE-nay'')

; ch : like 'ch' in "touch": ''muchacho''

; ch : like 'ch' in "touch": ''muchacho''

; d : like 'd' in "dog": ''de''. In some dialects, a 'd' between two vowels is pronounced with a bit of softness, halfway between the normal 'd' and the 'th' in "the": ''pasado''. You're usually fine just using the 'd' sound.

; d : like 'd' in "dog": ''de''. In some dialects, a 'd' between two vowels is pronounced with a bit of softness, halfway between the normal 'd' and the 'th' in "the": ''pasado''. You're usually fine just using the 'd' sound.

; k : like 'k' in "kid": ''kilo'' The letter K is only used in foreign words (karate, kilo, Kiev, etc.).

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; k : like 'k' in "kid": ''kilo'' The letter K is only used in foreign words (kárate, kilo, Kiev, etc.).

; l : like 'l' in "love": ''lápiz''

; l : like 'l' in "love": ''lápiz''

; ll : like 'y' in "year"; pronounced like a Zh as in 'Zhivago' only in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay: ''llamar.'' In at least some parts of Costa Rica and Colombia, pronounced as the English "j" or "g," as in the words "ginger" or "ninja." Also pronounced like 'ly' as in the English word "million" in northern Spain and in the Philippines.

; ll : like 'y' in "year"; pronounced like a Zh as in 'Zhivago' only in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay: ''llamar.'' In at least some parts of Costa Rica and Colombia, pronounced as the English "j" or "g," as in the words "ginger" or "ninja." Also pronounced like 'ly' as in the English word "million" in northern Spain and in the Philippines.

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; w : like 'w' in "weight" in English words, ''whisky'', pronounced "WEESS-kee"). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words.

; w : like 'w' in "weight" in English words, ''whisky'', pronounced "WEESS-kee"). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words.

; x : like 'x' in "flexible" (''flexible''). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word (''xilófono''). Like a throaty 'h' in the words ''México, mexicano, Oaxaca,'' and ''oaxaqueño''.

; x : like 'x' in "flexible" (''flexible''). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word (''xilófono''). Like a throaty 'h' in the words ''México, mexicano, Oaxaca,'' and ''oaxaqueño''.

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; y : like 'y' in "yes": ''payaso''. Like 'y' in "boy": ''hoy''. Pronounced like a Zh ONLY in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay as in 'Zhivago', : ''yo no sé'', pronounced "zhoh noh say".

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; y : like 'y' in "yes": ''payaso''. Like 'y' in "boy": ''hoy''. Pronounced like a Zh ONLY in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay as in 'Zhivago', : ''yo no sé'', pronounced "zhaw naw seh".

When speaking, times are given in AM/PM form (but saying ''de la mañana'' (morning), ''de la tarde'' (afternoon), ''de la noche'' (evening/night) or ''de la madrugada'' (late night) to distinguish between AM and PM. Rarely do Spanish speakers use the 24 h system in conversation. On the other hand, in most countries times are rendered in 24-hour format, with a colon separating hours and minutes:

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When speaking, times are given in AM/PM form (but saying ''de la mañana'' (morning), ''de la tarde'' (afternoon), ''de la noche'' (evening/night) or ''de la madrugada'' (late night) to distinguish between AM and PM. Rarely do Spanish speakers use the 24-hour system in conversation. On the other hand, in most countries, times are rendered in 24-hour format (as in Britain), with a colon separating hours and minutes:

Dates are given in day-month-year form as in English. All spoken and written, long and short forms follow this pattern:

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Dates are given in day-month-year form. All spoken and written, long and short forms follow this pattern:

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; 7th May 2003 : 7 de mayo de 2.003

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; 7 May 2003 : 7 de mayo de 2003

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; 23rd October 1997 : 23 de octubre de 1.997

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; 23 October 1997 : 23 de octubre de 1997

Day-month constructions (''4 de julio'', for example) are not usually abbreviated. In the rare cases that an abbreviation is used, the number of the month is not used, but its initial letter is. Usual examples are:

Day-month constructions (''4 de julio'', for example) are not usually abbreviated. In the rare cases that an abbreviation is used, the number of the month is not used, but its initial letter is. Usual examples are:

; (bubbly) water : agua con gas (''AH-gwah kohn gahs'') (if you say ''agua'', if you ask at the bar, it will be tap water (for free), at the table it is normally bottled); ''Agua mineral'' (''AH-gwah mee-neh-RAHL'') is bottled mineral water.

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; (bubbly) water : agua con gas (''AH-gwah kohn gahs'')

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: Note: if you say ''agua'', if you ask at the bar, it will be tap water (for free), at the table it is normally bottled).

; A pint (of beer) : ''Una jarra de cerveza'' (normally it will be half a liter, not really a pint just as in the UK, it is between 500 ml and 550 ml the size is similar); In Chile or Argentina ''un schop'' might be anywhere from 300cl to one litre, in Spain the common is a '''caña''' which is 20 cl in a tube glass, also you can ask for ''un quinto'' (20 cl bottle) or ''un tercio'' (33 cl bottle)

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; A pint/half a liter of beer : Una jarra de cerveza

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; A glass of draft beer : ''Un schop'' (''oon SHOHP'') (Chile and Argentina) / ''Una cerveza de barril'' (''OO-nah sehr-BEH-sah deh bahr-REEL'') (Mexico); in Spain you can ask for Cerveza negra, not very common in spanish ''Bares'', but easy to find in ''Pubs'' (Pub=small club where just drinks are served).

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: Note: in Spain the most common is ''una caña'' which is 200mL in a tube glass; you can also ask for ''un quinto'' (200mL bottle) or ''un tercio'' (330mL bottle)

Revision as of 12:41, 21 January 2013

Spanish (español), also known as Castilian (castellano), is the third most-spoken language (around 500 million speakers) in the world. Originating in Spain and spoken by most residents there, it has slightly different pronunciations from the rest of the world's Spanish speakers, as well as a few vocabulary differences.

A Western Romance language, Spanish is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the other romance languages to an extent, such as Portuguese, Catalan, Italian and Romanian. English and Spanish share variants of approximately one third of their words (via Latin), although the pronunciation tends to be very different.

The Spanish verb tense system is fairly similar to English, but all six person/number combinations take different endings in the indicative. The formal "you" (usted(es)) takes a third-person verb. Spanish has genders, so a man says encantado and a woman says encantada. The indirect object and the animate direct object are both marked by a.

Pronunciation Guide

Spanish spelling has the pleasant characteristic of being very phonetic, with only a few clearly-defined exceptions. This means that if you know how to pronounce the letters of a word, it's relatively easy to sound out the word itself.

Besides having a very small number of vowel sounds and a high predictability of exactly what sound is represented by each letter, Spanish has a very clear set of rules about where a stress normally falls, and exceptions are noted with an "acute accent mark" ("´ ") over the vowel of the stressed syllable. Normally, words that end in a vowel, or in n or s, have the stress on the next-to-last syllable (muchacho = "mu-CHA-cho"); all other words without an explicit accent mark are stressed on the final syllable (hospital = "os-pee-TAL"). There are no secondary stresses within words.

Vowels

The vowels in Spanish are short crisp sounds. They are not dragged out like the English vowels.

a

like 'a' in "father"

e

like 'ay' in "pay" or 'ai' in "hail" when stressed; may take on more of a 'e' in "pet" sound when unstressed

i

like 'ee' in "see"

o

like 'o' in "open

u

like 'u' in "rule"

y

like 'ee' in "see". Very rarely used at the middle or ending of words.

Consonants

b

like 'b' in "bed" (but no aspiration) at the beginning of a word and after 'm': boca. A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere. See v below.

c

follows the same pronunciation pattern as in English. In most cases it is pronounced like 'k' in "kid": calle, doctor. When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (in the Americas, the Canaries and some parts of the Philippines) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine (THEE-nay)

ch

like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho

d

like 'd' in "dog": de. In some dialects, a 'd' between two vowels is pronounced with a bit of softness, halfway between the normal 'd' and the 'th' in "the": pasado. You're usually fine just using the 'd' sound.

f

like 'f' in "fine": faro

g

when followed by 'e' or 'i', like a throaty 'h' (general = heh-neh-RAHL), otherwise like 'g' in "go" (gato). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the 'u' serves only to change the sound of the consonant and is silent (guitarra), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" (pedigüeño). In between vowels, it tends to be voiced and not guturral.

gu, gü

when followed by another vowel, like 'Gw' in Gwen (agua, cigüeña, Camagüey)

h

silent: hora= OR-ah. Pronounced like a softer 'j' only in foreign words.

j

like a throaty 'h' in "ha": jamón;

k

like 'k' in "kid": kilo The letter K is only used in foreign words (kárate, kilo, Kiev, etc.).

l

like 'l' in "love": lápiz

ll

like 'y' in "year"; pronounced like a Zh as in 'Zhivago' only in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay: llamar. In at least some parts of Costa Rica and Colombia, pronounced as the English "j" or "g," as in the words "ginger" or "ninja." Also pronounced like 'ly' as in the English word "million" in northern Spain and in the Philippines.

m

like 'm' in "mother": mano

n

like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche, ancla

ñ

like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón, piñata

p

like 'p' in "pig": perro

q

like 'q' in "quiche" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so

r, rr

Spanish has two 'r' sounds both of which are different from their counterpart in English. Some effort should be made to approximate each of them, to help listeners distinguish between perro ("dog") and pero ("but")... or perhaps to understand you at all:

single r: This sound is created by putting the tip of the tongue up against where the front of the roof of the mouth meets the upper teeth, very similar to the action English speakers make to pronounce l or d. To an English-speaking ear, it may sound a bit like a combined "d-r". Take care to pronounce r separately when it follows a consonant; a blended English tr will not be recognized in the Spanish word otro ("other"), which should be pronouced more like "OHT-roh".

rolled r: Written "r" at the beginning of the word, or "rr" between vowels (cerro). It's a multiply vibrating sound. Whereas most English speakers can learn to tap out a single r, many adults learning Spanish find this sound impossible to produce; in this case, pronouncing it like a Spanish r or fumbling out a d-r will be better understood than pronouncing it like a long English r.

s

like 's' in "son": sopa; in Spain, it is often pronounced like a soft, palatised "sh" at the end of a word or syllable.

t

like 't' in "top": tapa

v

like 'b' in "bed" (but no aspiration) at the beginning of a word and after 'm': vaca, pronounced BAH-kah. A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere. To distinguish v from b when spelling, one says "vay chica" or "bay grande" to indicate which; native Spanish speakers may not hear the difference between "vee" and "bee". But some Spanish speaking countries do say the 'v' as in "vine" with the teeth on the lower lip.

w

like 'w' in "weight" in English words, whisky, pronounced "WEESS-kee"). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words.

x

like 'x' in "flexible" (flexible). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word (xilófono). Like a throaty 'h' in the words México, mexicano, Oaxaca, and oaxaqueño.

y

like 'y' in "yes": payaso. Like 'y' in "boy": hoy. Pronounced like a Zh ONLY in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay as in 'Zhivago', : yo no sé, pronounced "zhaw naw seh".

z

like 's' in "supper" (Latin America), like 'th' in "thin" (Spain): zorro. See c above.

Diphthongs

Most diphthongs can be approximated by blending the first vowel into the second in a single syllable.

ai, ay

like 'eye': baile (BAI-lay)

au

like 'ow' in "cow": causa (KOW-sah)

ea

like 'ay-ah': fea (FAY-ah)

ei, ey

like 'ay' in "say": reina, rey. (RAY-nah)

eu

like 'eh-oo': euro ("eh-OO-roh")

ia

like 'ee-ah': piano (pee-AH-noh)

ie

like 'ee-eh': pie (PEE-eh)

io

like 'ee-aw': dio (DEE-aw)

iu

like 'ew' in "few": ciudad (syoo-DAHD)

oi, oy

like 'oy' in "boy": soy (soy)

ua

like 'wa' in "wash": cuatro (KWAH-traw)

ue

like 'we' in "well": puedo (PWAY-daw)

ui, uy

like 'ooey' in "phooey": ruido (ROOEE-doh)

uo

like "wo" in "won't": averiguo (ah-beh-REE-gwaw)

Accents and stress

Word stress can affect the meaning of the word and generally follows these rules:

If a word is marked with an accent, then that syllable receives the stress.

Additionally, if the accent marks a diphthong a syllable break occurs between the two vowels of the diphthong.

If a word is NOT marked with an accent, then

if the word ends in a consonant other than N or S, the stress occurs on the last syllable.

if the word ends in a vowel, N or S, the stress occurs on the next to last syllable.

In Spain, a English ci/ce or z sound makes a English "TH". In Latin America, it makes the "S" sound.

Writing Time

When speaking, times are given in AM/PM form (but saying de la mañana (morning), de la tarde (afternoon), de la noche (evening/night) or de la madrugada (late night) to distinguish between AM and PM. Rarely do Spanish speakers use the 24-hour system in conversation. On the other hand, in most countries, times are rendered in 24-hour format (as in Britain), with a colon separating hours and minutes:

Seasons

Writing Dates

Dates are given in day-month-year form. All spoken and written, long and short forms follow this pattern:

7 May 2003

7 de mayo de 2003

23 October 1997

23 de octubre de 1997

Day-month constructions (4 de julio, for example) are not usually abbreviated. In the rare cases that an abbreviation is used, the number of the month is not used, but its initial letter is. Usual examples are:

23-F

23 de febrero, date of a failed coup d'état in Spain (1981)

11-S

11 de septiembre, date of the attack to the Twin Towers (2001) (and of the Chilean coup in 1973).